Writings, observations and ideas either caused by or meant to induce a minor disruption.

Saturday, June 23, 2012

Wall Tape Dispenser

Mural by Norm Kirby is how this was titled for its debut on
a JC Fridays Friday earlier this month. Kirby is a artist and sometime street
artist with a fun and engaging illustrative style. As Jersey City murals go,
this one’s minimalist, the starkness of the black and white colors and the
focus on a sole object stands in contrast to the other murals not just around
town but at this address, 172 Newark Avenue, one of the most art friendly
buildings in downtown, which also wears murals of a whale and tigers.

“It’s something I see everyday,” Kirby told me. Now we all
do, but of course we all already we had. You don’t even need to work in an
office to know a tape dispenser and even those who never work in an office
still have been in an office and who says the tape dispenser has to be limited
to an office? I can’t think of an object more common, which makes it an object
worth objectivity in art. I’m not sure if this painting makes the ordinary scotch
tape dispenser more extraordinary, but it certainly makes this ordinary brick
wall a little more extraordinary.

Of course any great painting is just the end result that follows a succession
of sketches, but how to do a useable exterior mural on a pad? Luckily, there
are abandoned buildings available in Town providing useful exterior canvases.